Last year, Heckler’s lead editor, Andrew Holmes, David Nobay (Marcel Sydney chief creative officer at the time) and Goodoil and Taxi director, Justin McMillan, turned Nobay’s love poem to Byron Bay into a tribute film called Byron.

Superb cinematography by McMillan and sharp directorial decisions by Holmes underlined Nobay’s emotive declaration of love. The shoot took several days and used up every one of McMillan’s local mates and favours. Holmes then created the magic sequencing that underlined the beauty of Byron and the uniqueness of its character, and told Nobay’s story.

The evocative two-minute short film captured the essence of the home of the Byron Bay Film Festival and became its promotional vehicle. It headlined the Festival home page and was screened at all film festival venues in the lead up to and throughout the festival.

Holmes won a Silver Lotus for Editing at this year’s Asia-Pacific advertising festival, Adfest in March, and a Silver for Best Editing at AWARD Awards in May.

Now he has capped that with the ultimate win for an Australian editor. Holmes has scored Best Editing in Branded Content at the Australian Screen Editors (ASE) The Ellie Awards. He was presented with his award by ASE vice president, Jenny Hicks.

Holmes stated, “What an awesome way to finish the year! It’s truly an honour just to be nominated, but to win such a prestigious award from Australian Screen Editors. I just can’t thank them enough.

“Working with quality creative talent like director Justin McMillan, the poetic stylings of David Nobay, and my mentor and executive producer, Will Alexander, who were also instrumental to the success of this project, has been a real honour for me.

“I’m one of those lucky people who love what they do and to be recognised by my peers is a great honour. Congrats to all of the winners and nominees, there are some very talented individuals working in the Australian post-production industry.”

Heckler co-founder and executive producer, Will Alexander, added, “We are super proud of Andrew’s ongoing achievements as an outstanding and constantly celebrated editor. It goes without saying that Andrew is a uniquely gifted editor, whose ability to improvise and innovate has continued to drive the exceptional quality our clients have become accustomed to with Heckler’s work.”

The Ellie Awards is dedicated to the pursuit and recognition of excellence and aims to promote the role of editor as a significant contributor to all screen production.